Box Office: Katniss Reigns (Softly) While Spotlight Gains
Sunday, November 22, 2015 at 1:13PM [Whistles Katniss theme]
As expected Katniss and her unmerry band of rebels dominated the weekend box office as The Hunger Games franchise finally wrapped up. Though this is the softest opening yet for the franchise it's not soft enough to end Hollywood's love of splitting final chapters into two for no good narrative reason so the trend will obviously continue for now. (sigh). I personally have no real ill will for this franchise (it's okay but I bowed out after the second film -- just too dull for my personal tastes) but The Film Experience does have official stance ill will for franchise decisions that no reasonable trustworthy person could ever claim were based on anything other than milking more money from fans. "Event" showbiz is fun but the first priority really should be to the generous fan bases of serial cinema -- Hollywood owes fans good storytelling, not padding to take more of their paycheck once you've hooked them. You're not drug dealers, movie studios, you're showmen! Putting on a great show needs to be your priority. Hopefully the upcoming slate of finale splitting franchises fail in much more embarrassing / decisive ways so -- Hollywood deserves the wrist-slapping.
BOX OFFICE
(Nov 20th-22nd)
01 Hunger Games 4 (4,175 screens) $101 new Hunger Games & Oscar
02 Spectre (3,659 screens) $14.6 (cum. $153.7) Review
03 Peanuts Movie (3,671 screens) $12.8 (cum. $98.9)
04 The Night Before (2,960 screens) $10.1 new
05 Secret in Their Eyes (2,392 screens) $6.6 new
06 Love the Coopers (2,603 screens) $3.9 (cum. $14.8)
07 The Martian (2,086 screens) $3.7 (cum. $213) Podcast
08 Spotlight (598 screens) $3.6 (cum. 5.8) First Impression
09 The 33 (2,452 screens) $2.2 (cum. $9.9)
10 Bridge of Spies (1,532 screens) $1.9 (cum. $65.1) Review, Tom Hanks
11 Goosebumps (1,787 screens) $1.7 (cum. $76) First Impression
12 Brooklyn (113 screens) $1.1 (cum. $2.1) Review, Saoirse & Best Actress
13 Hotel Transylvania 2 (828 screens) $.7 (cum. $166.4) on director Genndy Tartakovsky
14 Prem Ratan Dhan Payo (283 screens) $.6 (cum. $3.9)
15 Suffragette (517 screens) $.5 (cum. $3.5) Carey's Performance, Review
Among the limited releases Spotlight and Brooklyn had the strongest per screen totals. Hopefully they'll stay strong in wider release since at heart they're quite accessible entertainments and it's infinitely depressing that anything non-genre that aims for adult audiences and quality these days is automatically viewed as "specialized" in its appeal. Room, a much trickier sell than either of those premise-wise is having a tougher time expanding but if the A24 Best Picture hopeful can hold out until top ten lists and awards noms give it some extra juice it should do well. It's already gathered a reasonable $2.8 million in its first month or so in release.
In extremely miniscule release Todd Haynes's latest masterpiece Carol earned a robust quarter million on just 4 screens... though in rather frustrating news it seems to be sticking to its originally aborted release date (opposite Star Wars) in terms of when it will show up in a lot of sizeable markets and won't be in some other smaller markets until Christmas day and beyond. In short: we're not sure when to schedule our proposed Carol week since it's going to take forever for many of you to see it. We feel your pain; you don't deserve the torturous wait.
What did you see this weekend?
I had a homebody weekend looking at screeners for Black Mass (for the first time), Truth (again), and the first half of Jessica Jones (Netflix).
Reader Comments (69)
We're merely offering friendly sentiments and predictions here...there's really no need to brandish words like 'dumb'.
Yes... My hunch is that she may win a third as well. That being said I also believe the Academy is not done with Meryl ( hence number 18 and 19 nomination after the 3rd win) and may win her fourth -this decade or next.
As for who does what quicker, who knows? It took Meryl 30 years for the third.
Did not mean to offend. The dumb was directed to the comparison you are making and not directed at you.
Let's compare Blanchett's career to Amy Adams, Hillary Swank, Kate Winslet, Sally Field, Dianne Weist, Heln Mirren in terms of nominations and wins...
Streep's a couple of laps ahead of the pack in terms of win and nominations and is sort of in a category all herself and she is still working.
I saw TRUMBO this weekend great movie Bryan Cranston was phenomonal deserves Oscars Consideration
One thing is clear: none of these folks will come close to matching the Oscar stats of Hepburn (four as a leading player, winner on the first nomination, almost a half century between first and last wins), Streep (19 nominations and counting) and Day-Lewis (three as a leading player, winner on the first nomination, 60% success rate).
● Streep still needs one more Best Actress statue (in this fan's opinion);
● if Blanchett continues to make films, she could definitely be a four-time winner by 2035, even if she doesn't achieve the same longevity as Hepburn or the nomination tally of Streep;
● Day-Lewis is the male Hepburn—there will be a fourth, perhaps in 2038, when he's 81, but likely sooner.
I caught James White, which was good but didn't knock my socks off like I'd been made to believe it would. I did, however, feel like it was an accurate representation of the dying process, which was refreshing.
And then I saw Mustang, which I am obsessed with. Full of life and surprisingly accessible.
Steve Jobs: Much of it is very good. But Aaron Sorkin movies are becoming (have already become?) a genre unto themselves. Fast, overly clever, prolix rat-a-tat-tat dialogue usually delivered by someone as he walks swiftly away from someone who's desperately trying to keep pace (both verbally and physically). But the daddy issues (both SteveJobs' and his daughter's) really are a double drag. Not that this means anything in particular but at the screening I attended I heard a woman behind me saying to her companion "This is real boring, isn't it?" Later I heard snoring.
Spotlight: A perfectly crafted movie that contains no art whatsoever. Everything is fine in its 1+1+1+1=4 kind of way. Loved Liev Schreiber! Why isn't he in the mix for Supporting Actor consideration?
Victoria: A stunt/art movie that pays off spectacularly. Wasn't at all sure at first, because almost nothing happens for the first hour. I was getting very frustrated and angry. Then POW!! things happen and don't stop until the movie is over. What a brilliant setup and what a gamble. If there was an edit in the film, I didn't see it.
Room Now here's a work of art: 1+1+1+1=8! An emotional powerhouse. Stop the whole Leading/Supporting debate (he's THE lead, for heaven's sake) and give Jacob Tremblay a special Oscar. Certainly one of the five best of the year.
TO KEN: sorry but i will never understand how people can find Steve Jobs boring. This is why we can't have nice things!
as for Liev Schrieber... i think it's just a case of embarrassment of riches in that movie in terms of supporting actor. I thought he was really good but certainly not better than Keaton or Tucci for example... i'm starting to wonder if they'll get any acting nominations people seem so split on MVPs and whatnot.
and yes the case of Jacob Tremblay does make you wonder why Oscar abanadoned their occassional special "juvenile award" -- they were fairly stingy with it... which was smart. but every once in a while it seems like such a great idea. It also solves the debate of "was that performance or direction?" that often crops up with child actors and it also solves the problem of gender double standards since little boys aren't considered important enough to vote for since it robs Valued MEN of their rightful respect whereas little girls are considered totally cute enough to 'who cares about older actresses anyway!' and then they get votes (sigh)
PAUL -- nooOOOoooo not you too. Streep has plenty. I just couldn't bear another situation where she takes a rightful Oscar away from someone like Viola Davis. I'd only be okay with this is she gives a Sophie's Choice or Silkwood level performance again where she is so obviously the rightful winner... and she's only given "so obviously rightful winner" about 4 times in her career... so i'd be surprised if it happened again. For her the number of nominations should seriously be seen as ABUNDANCE and people need to stop wanting more for her. What else could she possibly need at this point with nearly double the honors of any other actor?
EVERYONE -- oh yeah. Denzel forgot about him. I could see him winning a third, because he is one of the rare actors that completely fits the criteria I typed out there. He won very early in his career so those are kind of freebies and then went on to win after becoming a legend, one of the most consisently popular leading men the movies have ever seen. So, yes, he could win a third.
i have a harder time buying most of the other names that float around the internet about this. Especially people who it took a long time to win (like Kate Winslet)... whenever they wait a long time and the person wins because they are "overdue" - the academy tends to get stingy thereafter like "shut up, we did our due dilgence they're now a winner."... i don't think Winslet or Moore, for example, are ever winning a second.
I disagree Winslet and Moore are out of the running for a second. In fact because Streep and Day-Lewis recently won their third I see a flood of people winning their second like Frances McDormand (1/4) and Kathy Bates (1/3) personal wish fulfillment aside she wants it and Xavier Dolan will surely break through with his French language vehicle for Cotillard next year.
Netflix weekend:
Jessica Jones--really liked it, and loved Mike Colter/Luke Cage. I don't know the comic, but Krysten Ritter communicates a lot with those eyes.
The Wolfpack--wow, like Room, but in real life. Story was incredibly mesmerizing, but messed up--that shot near the end when the mom and dad walk across a field holding hands, with the special needs sister trailing behind? And the short film? It's still haunting me. As is a shot of all the brothers lined up with their Matrix sunglasses on.
Do I Sound Gay?--Interesting. I love David Sedaris.
Some Kind of Beautiful--gawd, what the hell? Brosnan, Hayek, and Alba: three very beautiful, very wealthy (due in part to wildly successful business ventures and modeling/advert contracts) moderately-talented actors appear in a straight-to-video ridiculous movie. Why? Pierce Brosnan needs to dump his producing partner and find some better material. He needs to find some Jeffery Dean Morgan or Sam Elliott type movie and TV work, or beefed up scripts for the November Man series (because those books are actually really good, and he is perfect for the part).
Nathaniel: Here's the deal—I became a Streep fan in her early career (on the stage). Even though I mostly lost interest in her film career in the '90s (give or take a Bridges), she was something so special that you never forget it. I adored her like Davis and consider(ed) her Bette's heir. When I said above that Day-Lewis was the male Hepburn, it was only because of the numbers: unlike Hepburn, he deserves all four of his Oscars. It's always galled me that Davis only won two, so I've always wanted to see Streep surpass Hepburn—nineteen nominations was not what I had in mind. I'd be content if she'd gotten nods and wins for Sophie's Choice, Silkwood, Bridges and Prada and maybe five further leading nominations thus far in her career. (The Kramer win would be the asterisk that separated her from Hepburn.)
Interestingly, Streep is now just past the point where Hepburn was in her Oscar run (35 years in contention) when she went without a nod or a win for 13 years (between Lion and the last one for Golden). If things had gone like in my fantasy version, I'd be fine with a Streep hiatus until 2028.
But as things stand...
I saw Suspicion which is such a weird movie. There was definitely some suspense, cinematography and fun melodrama to be had until the terrible cop-out ending.
But poor Fontaine, with this right after Rebecca, she just could not find the right man, could she? And, like Nick Davis, I don't understand how this performance could win (and be the only winning performance from a Hitchcock movie!?!) and Barbara Stanwyck couldn't even get nominated for The Lady Eve.
Nathaniel:
I want to make it clear that I didn't agree with that woman behind me, but it goes some way to explain why Steve Jobs has "disappointed" commercially. And I should mention that I found Jeff Daniels extremely award-worthy, which leads me to wondering about a possible "Martian" effect. Jeff Daniels and Jessica Chastain do next to nothing award-worthy in The Martian (they're ok, but nothing more). However, Jeff Daniels was stunning in Steve Jobs and Jessica Chastain excellent in Crimson Peak. I just wonder if their being a part of "The Martian" juggernaut (whose popularity I still don't get) might carry over to their worthier efforts.
Theater: Spotlight, which is the kind of adult drama I pray for all year long yet only seem to get towards the end. Not surprisingly, the whole time I watched it I thought about For the Bible Tells Me So.
Netflix:
C.O.G., which is what happens when a filmmaker populates his movie with unlikeable characters whose motivations make no sense but aren't complex enough for the audience to care about any of them.
Five Dances, zzzzzzzzz.
Test, which essentially is Five Dances but with stuff actually happening.
ken s - To be fair, if you go to a lot of movies, particularly a lot of independent or art movies, you overhear a lot of negative opinions. At Room last week, through all the sobbing, a very irritated man behind me complained to his wife, "why did I let you drag me to this movie?" And I'll never forget the two elderly women who spent half of The Bling Ring deciding whether or not to leave (they stayed, reluctantly).
Totally agree with Paul Outlaw. How right the world would be, but you take life as it comes. Streep also is inspirational, which I think gets neglected by basement dwellers. My question is whether virtual reality will make cinema and Oscars obsolete.
I'm about halfway through Jessica Jones and really digging it and the way it handles some pretty heavy topics but still manages to be fun. At the movies I saw both By The Sea and Spotlight and actually enjoyed both! Spotlight is the better film, but By The Sea was not the vanity project some have claimed it to be. But I'm also a sucker for the era (both stylistically and in terms of cinema) that it hearkens back to.
I also caught up with The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and WHY ISN'T ELIZABETH DEBICKI A HUGE STAR?!
Suzanne:
I go to movies a lot and my experience is that the older the crowd, the more talking. My most memorable experience was at Gosford Park, where a group of about 6 senior citizens were sitting together, and one man (a designated repeater?) kept repeating the jokes from the movie for the others, and they would only laugh after he did this!
As for young people, they're too busy checking their electronic gadgets and distracting me with their screen lights to even be paying attention to the screen.
But this is a good time to bring up my favorite audience participation event from earlier this year at Paddington. When Paddington was climbing up the chimney some little kid started yelling "Be careful Paddington!". Nice to know someone was as into the movie as I was.